archeologia: Book of the Dead

Evidence: 100 • authority: 72

The Book of the Dead is the name given to an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom (around 1550 BC) to around 50 BC. "Book" is the closest term to describe the loose collection of texts consisting of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the Duat, or underworld, and into the afterlife and written by many priests over a period of about 1,000 years. In 1842, the Egyptologist Karl Richard Lepsius introduced for these texts the German name Todtenbuch (modern spelling Totenbuch), translated to English as 'Book of the Dead'. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m…

Evidence: 39 • authority: 72

Evidence: 29 • authority: 72

The Book of Gates is an ancient Egyptian funerary text dating from the New Kingdom. The Book of Gates is long and detailed, consisting of one hundred scenes. It narrates the passage of a newly deceased soul into the next world journeying with the sun god, Ra, through the underworld during the hours of the night towards his resurrection. The soul is required to pass through a series of 'gates' at each hour of the journey. Each gate is guarded by a different serpent deity that is associated with a different goddess. It is important that the deceased knows the names of each guardian. Depictions of the judgment of the dead are shown in the last three hours. The text implies that some people wil…

Evidence: 24 • authority: 88

Evidence: 24 • authority: 72

Evidence: 20 • authority: 88

Donkeys, Genies, and Demons: Fantastical Creatures in Ancient Egyptian Ritual Texts and Funerary Assemblages. The donkey was depicted in Egyptian tomb scenes since the Old Kingdom. By the end of the Old Kingdom, the donkey represented an ambivalent creature that could either assist the nightly journey of Re or be a malevolent force supporting Seth or Apophis. Depictions of donkeys and hybrid donkey creatures survive from the Third Intermediate Period onward in papyri and they appear as guardians on temple walls during the Greco-Roman period. The spearing or harpooning of donkeys, along with hippopotami, turtles and pigs, continued as a magical and ritual theme after the Late Period with som…

Evidence: 20 • authority: 72

The four sons of Horus were a group of four deities in ancient Egyptian religion who were believed to protect the dead in the afterlife. Beginning in the First Intermediate Period of Egyptian history (c. 2181–2055 BC), Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef, and Qebehsenuef were especially connected with the four canopic jars that housed the internal organs which were removed from the body of the deceased during the process of mummification. Most commonly, Imsety protected the liver, Hapy the lungs, Duamutef the stomach, and Qebehsenuef the intestines, but this pattern often varied. The canopic jars were given lids that represented the heads of the sons of Horus. Although they were originally portrayed as…

Evidence: 20 • authority: 72

The Book of the Earth (Arabic: كتاب الارض, romanized: Kitab al-Arid) is an Ancient Egyptian funerary text that has been called many names such as The Creation of the Sun Disk and the Book of Aker. The Book primarily appears on the tombs of Merneptah, Twosret, Ramesses III, Ramesses VI, and Ramesses VII and serves as a counterpart to the Book of Caverns. The central figures in the story are Osiris, Ra and Ba, while the overarching plot is the journey the sun takes through the earth god, Aker.